10 Rules of Engagement for a Civil Society

The Vancouver Sun launched a special edition on Saturday, April 5, on civil society. The editors kicked it off with my front-page essay in Friday’s paper, which included my ten rules of engagement for creating a civil society.

(Each rule was followed by an illustration of a famous person, whom editors thought embodied the concept. What do you think of their choices? Angelina Jolie? More importantly, what do you think of the rules of engagement?)

10. Treat others with the respect with which you’d like to be treated. (Jesus)

Here’s an excerpt from my essay:

What should be the rules of engagement to foster a truly civil society?

They should generally follow the rules of a dialogue. That requires a modicum of politeness with lots of eye-contact, handshaking and definitely no spitting.

That way everyone will feel welcome at the table of competing ideas and beliefs.

Beyond such basic politeness, however, we should have a broad understanding of what it means to be “civil” in a civil society.

I always remember John Dixon, a Capilano College philosophy instructor and activist with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, talking about how democracy is “messy.”

While expressing one’s opinions and passions in the democratic tumult of competing ideas and values, people’s feelings and self-interest can sometimes be threatened.

But it’s not bad to be made to feel uncomfortable. Often it’s necessary for things to change.

In other words, the creation of a truly civil society sometimes requires people making intemperate, even critical remarks — about neighbours, media figures, politicians and corporate leaders — or doing impolite things, like staging protests.

Still, I’m often impressed by veteran agents of social betterment, like Dixon, who can join the fray and work for the common good while remaining, for lack of a better word, “polite.”

Such people illustrate my theory that it’s often the most radical people who are the most respectful. As a result, they’re also the most effective at making good things happen.

With summer approaching, we have to begin our work of looking for new clothes, shoes and even hair styles. NBA jerseys are the best choice for wearing in summers. NBA is a magic word that associates with numerous dreams. We are not only interested in the games themselves but the NBA jerseys, shirts and shorts that the players are wearing. Why not to buy a cheap NBA jerseys on the lovejerseys.com?

Nike dunks, nike dunk, nike sb,nike sb dunks, Nike Blazers, Air Jordan shoes has used a strategy of modern technology for making luxury sports shoe to gain the attention of people. Nike dunks cater to a large vary of the sports personnel have been designed in the slogan of ‘Be True’. Free shipping. welcome to: http://www.bestnikedunks.com

Nike dunks, nike dunk, nike sb,nike sb dunks, Nike Blazers, Air Jordan shoes has used a strategy of modern technology for making luxury sports shoe to gain the attention of people. Nike dunks cater to a large vary of the sports personnel have been designed in the slogan of ‘Be True’. Free shipping. welcome to: http://www.bestnikedunks.com

Nike dunks, nike dunk, nike sb,nike sb dunks, Nike Blazers, Air Jordan shoes has used a strategy of modern technology for making luxury sports shoe to gain the attention of people. Nike dunks cater to a large vary of the sports personnel have been designed in the slogan of ‘Be True’. Free shipping. welcome to: http://www.bestnikedunks.com

Stanlley has a point regarding rewarding bad behavior instead of punishment. Jesus said: Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also Matthew 5:39 You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, But I say to you love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who despitefully use you and persecute you. Matthew 5:43

How civil are we, the civilians of Vancouver? According to Vancouver’s Project Civil City, citizens of Vancouver expressed “significant concern over the increased incidents of street disorder and are worried for their safety and well-being.” The city’s response is Project Civil City – which promises to “increase housing opportunities and eliminate homelessness with at least a 50% reduction by 2010”. We, in Vancouver, want a civil place to live but do we realize what is really going on? There is increased criminalization of the poor and increased danger (less safety; less well-being) for people who are forced to live on the street, while our three levels of government are allowing, even facilitating, more homelessness through its back room deals and lack of real action in creating actual homes for people. Currently some DTES hotel owners are illegally evicting people (in the past 4 months alone, people have been evicted from 377 rooms which won’t be reopened for the poor); OUR publicly-owned land at Little Mountain (oldest social housing community established on land gifted to the people of BC) is being readied for sale to private developers – which means that at this moment poor FAMILIES are being pushed out of homes which will then stand empty for up to 3 years. That’s over 500 units of housing LOST in the past few months alone. Meanwhile vague comments get dropped to the media about government spending more on housing. The game plan is ‘pass the buck’ and ‘move the shells’. The homelessness is going to increase unless we as citizens stand up and say – “Stop!” to this craziness. Want to be informed? Want to be part of creative action for establishing a truly civil city? Find out what is really going on by asking questions and getting informed. There are a number of local organizations seeking to make a difference. E.g., Streams of Justice is a group of people trying to become educated about the realities of the issues and to raise awareness of others – S of J held a successful week long squat in the fall, holds people-art installations around town, performs a multi-media presentation called Trouble in Paradise, offers monthly presentations on vital issues, and supports other organizations which are working very hard to improve the situation for the poor in our city while holding government accountable: Carnegie Centre Action Project, End Poverty Now (Poverty Olympics) , Community Advocates for Little Mountain (weekly STANDS for Housing – on Saturdays) and others. For information and ideas, see http://www.streamsofjustice.org Time is running out for our poorer fellow citizens and that’s bad news for all of us. Before the powers that be give away more homes and create more homelessness, let’s stand up together and call for a real CIVIL city where all people can have a home in which to feel safety and experience well-being.

It may be prudent to fully analyse existing behavioural control systems before venturing into a modern day structure. The three most evident control systems are religion, civic and monetary. Religious control systems promise a reward in an afterlife for compliance and in many cases may inflict corporal or capital punishment to those who commit one or more of a specific list of transgressions. This type of control works well in an insular society but creates avenues of conflict in pluralist, multi-cultural environments. Can several ‘gods’ exist simultaneously in a religious environment where blasphemy exits? Civic control systems are a list of man-made laws with a accompanying list of immediate punishments for non-compliance. This system of behaviour control has evolved into a massive industry employing countless participants on both sides of this business. To perpetuate the growth of this industry more laws are constantly being introduced into this system of behaviour control. Is justice really served by this behaviour control system when it is subject to misinterpretation and manipulation? Monetary behaviour control can be the most insidious. Along with those who use this system wisely, a segment of this population is comprised of people whose self-interest supersedes that of society in general regardless of the consequences. Slave-creating slum landlords, robber barons, unscrupulous moneylenders and the ego-driven extremely wealthy who use their gains as bragging rights to name just a few. In a pluralist society, religious control is the easiest to address by making all religious houses of worship businesses in the civic sense so that these institutions would have to follow the business rules of their communities. This would include taxing these institutions Uttering religious-based threats to parishioners or inciting violence towards others would become subject to resolution in a civil court. It is easy to understand why the youth of today has problems with behavioural concepts based on dogmatic religion or on highly manipulated civic law where some of those who commit grievous offences suffer little or no penalty while others are incarcerated for no reason at all. If the penalty aspect of civic behaviour control is not providing the expected results, maybe it may be time to revert to a more immediate reward scenario.

Thank you for your wonderful front page article in Friday’s Vancouver Sun. I have reduced my newspaper subscription to once a week, because I find most of the contents a waste of paper, a waste of time to read, and not good for the spirit. More often than not, I skim the headlines and toss the paper aside because of too much negative and disturbing content. How refreshing to have your article as front page news today. It moved me deeply to read what you had to say about the dimensions of true civility, and your choice of people to quote on the matter is uplifting. It feels good to have someone eloquently and intelligently express what is close to the heart. I will save your article – saving a newspaper article is something I have not done for a long while. I think you will be touching many people’s hearts today, and that is a great service. I appreciate your thoughts about the “Me-First” syndrome. It is an attitude that has a narrowing effect on people. A few days ago I came across these words by another great teacher on our planet: “Seva (selfless service) brings out all that is great in man. It broadens the heart and widens one’s vision. It fills one with joy. It promotes unity. It proclaims the truth of the spirit. It drives out all the evil qualities in man. It must be regarded as a great spiritual discipline.” (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba) Marleane

I think the 10 rules of engagement are practical and possible but require considerable thought and effort. If all humans treated other humans in this way, can you imagine what a community we could have? It would be amazing. I’m especially concerned about the marginalized people in our city and feel ashamed at how they are treated. So often they are not even SEEN as human, let alone listened to, respected or treated with compassion. Many leaders in our communities and government don’t pay attention to all people, act with violence through their decision-making and are not genuine. Neighbours who live in fear barricade themselves as they refuse to act (with decency), refuse to change for others and think accountability refers to someone else, not them. With the 2010 Olympics coming up, I suspect that we are going to find out just how ‘civil’ this city really is. Will we be dumping our poor in the rural areas like other Big Event cities have done? Or sticking them in jail because they didn’t pay their fines for illegally panhandling or sitting down in a public place? Or continuing to let developers buy their way out of providing social housing? Seems like these kinds of actions break many of the rules you have articulated. I’m glad you are bringing public attention to the (tricky) concept of civility, which is not about smiling or even behaving politely. It’s about being genuine and respectful to others, all others. It’s about getting out of selfish places and integrating our lives in meaningful human ways – ways that may be costly, financially and personally, but ultimately vital for our survival. Maybe an 11th rule is “have the courage to do the right thing, even if it hurts”.